A bomb has killed 20 in Afghanistan hours after the President opened a hospital in the area

An explosion hit the centre of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, killing at least 20 people, including several members of the small Sikh minority, provincial government officials said.

The blast, hours after President Ashraf Ghani had opened a hospital in Jalalabad, damaged shops and buildings around Mukhaberat square in the city, said governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani.

A politician representing the minority Sikh community was killed in the blast.

A suicide bomb has exploded in the Afghan city of Jalalabad killing at least 20 people. (Nine)

Officials said Awtar Singh Khalsa, who had planned to stand in October's parliamentary elections, was dead.

Ghulam Sanayi Stanekzai, police chief of Nangarhar said the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber who targeted a vehicle carrying members of the Sikh minority who were travelling to meet the president.

Officials said at least 10 of the dead were Sikhs.

Afghanistan is an overwhelmingly Muslim nation but a small number of Hindus and Sikhs remain in the country.

The explosion killed mostly members of the Sikh minority, including a local politician. (9news)

One seat in the Afghan parliament is reserved for a member of the country's small Sikh and Hindu communities.

But increasing numbers of Sikhs and Hindus have moved to India, their spiritual homeland, due to persecution and repeated threats.

Officials at the Indian Embassy in Kabul confirmed the death of ten Sikhs and condemned "the terrorist attack" in Jalalabad.

"The attack underlines the need for a united global fight against international terrorism without discrimination and accountability of those who support terrorists in any manner," the Indian Embassy said on Twitter.

Inaamullah Miakhel, a spokesman for the provincial health department of Nangarhar, said 20 people were wounded.

A hospital had been opened by President Ashraf Ghani only hours prior to the explosion. (9news)

Officials said the casualty total might have been even higher had much of the city not been blocked off for Ghani's visit. He was not in the area when the blast occurred.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, the latest in a series to have hit Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangarhar, where Islamic State fighters have established a strong presence in recent years.

The attack underlined the fragile security situation in Afghanistan after last month's brief ceasefire between government forces and the Taliban.

The three-day truce did not include Islamic State, which fights both government forces and the Taliban and which has shown no sign of letting up its campaign of violence.